New Delhi: All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz president and former Rajya Sabha MP Ali Anwar Ansari said on Sunday that the BJP government at the Centre, following its “Manuvadi ideology”, is trying to sabotage this year’s caste census.
In a press release issued on Sunday, Ansari said that although the Centre had agreed to conduct a caste census last year following public pressure, the “open-ended” questionnaire prepared for the exercise suggested it could meet the same fate as the 2011 Census, whose caste data was not made public in the form many groups expected.
“The kind of ‘open-ended’ questionnaire that has been prepared for the caste census proves that the fate of the 2011 Census will be the same this time as well,” Ansari said in the statement in Hindi.
Ansari further demanded that the Centre should conduct the caste census along the lines of the caste-based survey carried out by the Bihar government in 2022-23. He said such an exercise would help establish the population of different castes as well as their socio-economic conditions.
He also called for the caste questionnaire to incorporate the official caste lists maintained by both state governments and the Centre.
Ansari suggested that questions relating to Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and the General category should be accompanied by the relevant state and central caste lists, enabling respondents to enter their caste names according to the recognised lists.
“If this is not done, the entire exercise will become a complete mess,” he said.
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‘Anti-reservation forces’
Ansari, who supports the caste census and has been vocal about the rights and political representation of Pasmanda Muslims, has also raised concerns about the Central government’s approach to conducting the census.
He has written several open letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and opposition parties, calling for the welfare and development of Pasmanda Muslims.
The statement added that “anti-reservation, Manuvadi forces have suddenly become active”, and that Union Minister JP Nadda is holding discussion with their leaders.
These leaders, the statement added, have said that the talks are moving in a positive direction.
Ansari further added that among Muslims too, anti-reservation groups are engaged in an intense whisper campaign, urging Muslims to write “Muslim” in the caste column instead of the name of their biradari (caste/community).
He also mentioned that he had first raised the issue of a caste census in the Rajya Sabha on 18 December 2009, adding that the Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz has remained continuously active on the issue.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)